LOS ANGELES — Stand up to resist the hate-mongering and violence targeting immigrants and Muslims, was the message activist Alan Nishio delivered to the 300-plus people attending the 2018 Day of Remembrance Feb. 17 at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. The annual Day of Remembrance event commemorates President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing […]

Filmmaker Ryan Kawamoto continues his exploration of Hawai‘i’s hidden history with “Voices From Behind Barbed Wire: Stories From Hawai‘i Island,” a follow-up to his 2012 film “The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i.” The short film examines the little-known history of the incarceration of the Japanese population on the Big Island of Hawai‘i […]

“Never Give Up! Minoru Yasui and the Fight for Justice,” by Holly Yasui and Will Doolittle, highlights the life of Minoru Yasui, who during World War II intentionally violated Executive Order 9066, the presidential orders that resulted in the incarceration of more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry in United States concentration camps. Minoru Yasui, […]

Following World War II, Japanese Americans returned home to the West Coast from various concentration camps. The experience, traumatic and humiliating for many former inmates, became a taboo subject for numerous families. Often times, their children would not learn about their incarceration until years later. Marlene Shigekawa, a filmmaker based in Lafayette, Calif., explores that […]

Last year, we commemorated the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, the order that authorized the incarceration of more than 110,000 American Japanese during World War II. This year, it is the 30th anniversary of the passing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the legislation that mandated the issuing of a […]

Japanese Americans held a candlelight vigil in San Francisco’s Japantown in November 2016, following the election of President Donald Trump. Abby Ginzberg’s “And Then They Came For Us” opens with this scene as Asian Americans and the Muslim community expressed solidarity following a presidential campaign fraught with xenophobia, homophobia and Islamophobia. The year-long campaign by […]

LOS ANGELES — Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress and Visual Communications announced the release of a DVD documenting the portion of the Commission on the Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings held in Los Angeles in 1981. The announcement was made during a program Dec. 2 at the Japanese American National Museum’s Tateuchi […]

What a tumultuous year we have had. First of all, Feb. 19 was the 75th anniversary of the passage of Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1942, which set into motion the program of incarcerating close to 120,000 American Japanese in concentration camps. So this anniversary was observed in many ways. My […]

Theater is terrific when the many elements that comprise a production come together as a whole, as was the case with “Hold These Truths,” a one-man play depicting the late civil rights icon Gordon Hirabayashi’s life. The San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League sponsored the Nov. 18 performance, which took place at […]

In recognition of their decades of commitment to Asian Pacific American community concerns and philanthropic endeavors, the Minami Tamaki LLP law firm — rooted in historic legal cases such as overturning the World War II conviction of civil rights icon Fred Korematsu for resisting relocation orders — were presented the Leadership in Philanthropy Award by […]